that is on the positive side. hiring was strongest in september and october. on the negative side, the job growth was not strong enough. the unemployment rate rose from 7.9% to 7.8% in september, mainly because people began looking for work. mitt romney campaigned in wisconsin and acknowledged the unemployment rate would remain stag minute no matter who wins on tuesday. he said he would do something about it. president obama, meanwhile, was in springfield, ohio, and told the crowd that the policies mitt romney and republicans would put into place would put the country back where it was four years ago. >> it's a choice of going back to the top-down policies that got us into this mess or the middle up, bottom up strat jay gis that got us out of the mess and will keep us going. >> i know when i'm elected, the economy and american job market will still be stagnant. i won't waste time complaining

about my predecessor. >> reporter: we're down to the wire here. the associated press put nine states now in the up-for-grabs category: ohio, florida, virginia, north carolina, new hampshire, iowa, wisconsin, colorado, and nevada. brian, that is a wide margin where the candidates will battle the next few days. tonight, video of mitt romney discussing his mormon faith and abortion has gone viral. he ran for president in '08 and sat down in iowa and discussed his faith and view on abortion. >> my faith has strong beliefs -- i was beaten up in boston because i encouraged girls not to have abortions but adoption. i have not done anything to viola the principles of my church in that regard. >> romney said while the mormon

church doesn't condone abortion, the church doesn't say a punish has to be opposed to allowing choice in society n. '08, he said there were plenty of democrats who were mormons and pro-choice. the advocacy group nuns on the bus is back on the road today. the members gathered this morning at a church near arlington. 200 supports turned out. they planned to make stops in several cities in virginia, including richmond and virginia beach. the group has been critical in the past. the republican plans would cut federal aid and roll back advances in healthcare. >> to lift up the need for people in poverty and to work for full time, get minimum wage and are not able to put a roof over their kids' heads or food on the table. >> and group members are calling on democrats and republicans to stop their bickering and work for the good of the american people. they want them to -- a faithful budget that protects all and not just the wealthy. y you have a few hours left in maryland for early voting

and polls close at 9. we have seen long lines across the region. stay with us. they focus on local and national candidates and the issues during the final days of the campaign. fox 5 wants to hear from you as well. use the hash tag d.c. you decide to tweet your thoughts as we count down to election day. breaking news from new york city. a short time ago, mayor bloomberg reversed course and announced sunday's running of the new york city marathon is cancelled. bloomberg came under sharp criticism for not canceling the race. in the aftermath of hurricane send, the city is still recovering from the massive storms and killed 40 people in new york alone. many are still without power. the transportation in the city has been snarled. the resources would have been diverted for the marathon and they're needed to help the city recover from sandy. mntime, the heart of new york is slowly beating as

recovery from sandy picked up a bit. the cleanup is breeding frustration, though, and desperation. millions of people without power, gas, food, drinking water, hurricane sandy not being blamed on 96 deaths in the united states. 570,000 homes and businesses are without power. could be several more days before electricity is completely restored and a gas shortage loom across the state and into neighboring new jersey. many say the situation is overwhelming. >> we have no water at all, no electricity. it's difficult and rough. >> it's terrible. you can't say -- police have everything -- . >> and they see that in other areas are being taken care of and totally overlooked us. >> that sentiment can be felt across new york tonight. rick leventhal reports from cliffton, new jersey. >> reporter: several days after hurricane sandy, drivers continue to struggle to fill up their gas tanks. people waiting in line to stretch for miles at the few

gas stations with fuel and power. >> i have been in this lane for an hour and a half waiting to get to one of these pumps. i am hoping i don't get up there and they say no gas. >> reporter: is the homeland security janet napolitano temporarily waiving a rule to allow tankers enternortheast -- [ no audio ] >> apologize for that. having technical difficulties. demolished homes, all that is left in some neighborhoods. the new york -- to see communities waiting for help and that it's taking too long. home owners are frustrated with fema. they have reached a breaking point. >> three years on my mind and. >> this is a terrible thing. >> it's traveling to each area affected by sandy and urging people to be patient as they work to get to their region.

easing up on speed camera fines in the district. the new plan going into affect. sue. >> when you see the pictures in new york, it's heartbreaking, isn't it? >> had a lot of cloudy days but we have nothing to complain about. i'll let you know if we bright everyone things up into the weekend and lindsay, it feels like hockey weather. >> it does. unfortunately, i have bad news. there is more bad news for hockey players and fans. plus, are you ready for hoops on the verizon center. we'll preview the wizards and we'll hear what rg iii and cam newton have to say about their comparisons. brian? >> if you have a story idea, call us or www.fox5tips@wttg.com. ttg.com. charlie rose: will you endorse prpresident obama?

colin powell: yes. when he took over we were in one of the... worst recessions we had seen in recent times... close to a depression. and i saw, over the next several years, stabilization... come back in the financial community. housing is starting to pick up. the president saved the auto industry. and the actions he's taken with respect to... protecting us from terrorism have been very, very solid. and so, i think we ought to keep on the track that we are on. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

. the edge in maryland where a water main projects disrupting traffic in bethesda today. the crews are working overnight to replace a water main near bradley boulevard when they noticed the parking garage was

flooded. several cars nearly submerged. the source of the leak still unclear. the washington suburban sanitary commission is looking into whether the crew is to blame. >> we're in the process of investigating that now. the new line is where the leak is. we're looking in the building and under the ground to see if we can find the source of how the water is entering this building. >> if it's -- the crew did cause the problem, wssc said they will make it right for the cars who are were damaged or destroyed. d.c. mayor wants to lower the fines for speeding. 11 to 15 miles an hour over the speed limit lowered to $100 instead of a buck 25. if you are caught going more than 25 miles going over the speed limit, the jump is from 250 to 300. the fines will go into place monday. driver his to take a double take this morning. a gas station in arlington selling gas this morning for

just a buck 84 a gallon. half of what gas is selling for now. they arranged for the cheap gas promotion and supports increased energy production in the u.s. and has been sharply critical of the obama administration's energy policies saying the u.s. needs to be on path for energy independence. coming up on the news edge, being called by some the town that is forgotten amount look at the devastation at new york's staten island. >> a six hundred-pound marlin lands in a boat off the off of the coast of -- off of the coast of australia. the long battle. now for the struggle, they let the fish go back into the sea. president obama: there's just no quit i in america...

and you're seeing that right now. over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... rising. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home.

we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the... last thing we should do is turn back now. here's my plan for the next four years: hbuilding on our manufacturingur boom;: boosting american-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where... we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. and ending the war in afghanistan, so we can... do some nation-building here at home. that's the right path. so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote... so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message.

. four days after hurricane sandy, new yorkers are picking up the pieces after surviving a hard punch. the new video shows the strucks, piles of debris lining the streets, hundreds of homes collapsed. on top of the deaf station, there are disturbing images of what else sandy has on earth. paul wagner has more on that from staten island. paul? >> reporter: well, brian, janet napolitano was here awhile ago. the homeland security secretary, and i asked her of all of the damage she's seen from hurricane sandy, where does staten island stack? she said it's absolutely there near the top. this area is devastated, brian, and i am at a relief center behind a high school on staten island where anybody who has lost anything can come and get a variety of items. and can you get hot meals, clothing. many things were donated here. this area is buzzing this time of the night with people coming to look for things that they're going need. we were told earlier by the red

cross that they were going shut this place down at dusk, but they have new set up a tent and -- tent and they loading a lot of the supplies into the tent. it's unclear whether they're going to remain open through the night, but for people who have lost everything, brian, this relief center is a godsend. >> while i still have you and the window is still open, i want to ask you a question here. why has statten island been forgotten? what is the gap in communication here? >> you know, we heard that for the last couple of days, brian. when i was in coney island, i heard the same thing. hearing it hear as well and some people call this this the forgotten borrough. it's hard to explain. you have the epicenter of manhattan, lower manhattan

without power and that gets a lot of attention and this place is so large. you think of new york city, over 7 million people live here and you're talking about an expanse, the joey graphy is just massive. it might be that because it was hard to get around, brian, and communication is difficult, that some places felt left out and there they getting the attention now and the red cross set up this relief center here and a place at a shopping center not far from here where they're serving hot meals for people, and they also have the emergency response vehicles that they can load up with meals, 500, and drive around the neighborhoods. some of the worst ones drive in and deliver some of the meals to people and they have the cleanup kits for people who have not showered in days. they can take that and clean themselves up, too.

and lots is going here now. i hope that answers your question. >> and about 20 seconds or so here, paul where is the mayor? where where is the national correspondent? where are the -- the national guard? where are the pictures of relief? why aren't we seeing them? >> the national guard is here. they're out in this relief site. it's -- it's hard to describe. it, part of it, brian, is the probably of getting around. it's extremely difficult. gas is hard to get. there are long, long lines of people waiting for gas. not only with containers, but long lines of cars as well. the media is in the same kind of situation, trying to get gas, trying to get around. it's difficult to get from place-to-place. you get the helicopter shots and can you see from the helicopter what is going on, but you have to get on the ground to see close up what is happening. it's just taken all of the days to get those shots and to get thathose images back to people. >> paul wagner live on staten

island. a tumbler blog i saw today set up for people from new orleans and their condolences, their thoughts for the people in new york. and a lot of them, obviously, poignant and one couple who has a fiance from new jersey and she's from new orleans, he said i can't believe everything, my whole childhood has been wiped away, she's like i can relate. >> that must be of comfort to people. and those year difficult things to comprehend -- are difficult things to comprehend. underground did a great job of compiling stats. one of the highest waves measured was at the entrance to the harbor. 32 1/2 feet. >> wow. >> when they looked at the potential for destruction, it was 5-pointity error roar a scale of 0-6, the highest since 1969. the storm surge did most of the terrible damage. as we look live over d.c., how

grateful we are that we are not struggling with scenes like that. hopefully we're all touched and moved to help them out in some way. wow. weeks and months in this cold weather and we're going to be watching them struggle to get new york city and the jersey shore pulled back together. what a beautiful picture, though, as we look live at the capital. as the cun sunhas just gone down and we can see a little bit as the lights are coming on over the city. grateful for the point of viewer this weekend. you get to set the alarm clocks off if you like. you get an extra hour to snooze and we're returning to standard time. that means you set your clos clocks back an hour saturday before going to bed. the changeover officially happens at 2 in the morning on sunday. the sun goes down at 5:04 on sunday and this is going to be a weekend where can you see the sun, unlike today and the other days we have not seen much sun. tomorrow, a chilly breeze, though, 52 and this sun being

out. what you seeing across the northeast is a big trough of low pressure and inside that, we're still getting some energy coming around and what is left of sandy. we have the clouds through central virginia and southern virginia, it was sunnier today. we still have the clouds for d.c. and much of northern virginia and across maryland. a couple of sprinkles here and there. we had a couple of those again today, but we think this pattern is going to be shifting far enough east tomorrow that we're going to get more sunshine out of the deal. that will be great and we're going to watch and so what is going on in the pacific northwest. a piece of energy coming in there and may take a big dive to the deep south next week and try to organize into a coastal area of low pressure and a nor'easter by wednesday and that is going to be a big important play. not a sandy-like storm but important. we're going to show it to you here at 6:30, 6:45, i believe, on the news edge political show. 56 degrees now and 46 in gaithersburg. going to be chilly tonight if

you have plans to be out late. keep in mind, we're probably going to fall into the low 30s in the suburbs, 39 for the district and the clouds will be breaking up and colder in the suburbs. tomorrow about 52 degrees and we'll get back to chilly sunshine. there will be a noticeable breeze for your saturday. the fox 5 accuweather forecast, a seven aft with some coastal questions that we're going to be watching. the temperatures between now and election day, brian, still in the low 50s and it will be quiet until wednesday and some showers, but we're concerned about the impact. the five-year post season drought over for d.c. united. a preview of tomorrow's showdown with the archrival new york red bulls. next. and if can you believe it, utility workers in san diego are training to grab a live power line. charged at 500,000-volts of

electricity. the technique is called bare handing. the method allows the team to make repairs more quickly. it's safe. the team wears protective steel stainless woven suits. suits. [ minto ] you know, those ads saying mitt romney would ban all abortions and contraception seemed a bit extreme. so i looked into it. turns out, romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life. this issue's important to me, but i'm more concerned about the debt our children will be left with. i voted for president obama last time, but we just can't afford four more years. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

colin powell: yes. when he took over we were in one of the... [ romney ] i'm mitt romney worst recessions we had seen in recent times... close to a depression. and i saw, over the next several years, stabilization... come back in the financial community. housing is starting to pick up.

the president saved the auto industry. and the actions he's taken with respect to... protecting us from terrorism have been very, very solid. and so, i think we ought to keep on the track that we are on. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message. . good evening, i'm lindsay murphy h. there is a light at the end of the tunnel for safety, brandon merryweather and appears he will make the redskins debut against the eagles. as the redskins prepare for homecoming this sunday, they will try to shut out all of the comparisons between robert griffin 3 and camerror newton. fair to say they're similar. they both heisman trophy winners. they can create havoc with the running ability and accuracy. he doesn't want to compare the -- compare the comparisons. he's completed 67% of the passes to over 1700 yards and

eight touchdowns and he's rushed for 476 yards and six scores. newton has five touchdown passes, 310 yards rushing and three tds. here are the two qbs on each other. >> and they excellent quarterbacks, skills similar in ways that they have an ability to run the football. that is about it and some things that he does in his game, you know, that i don't do and some things he does that i don't do and that is about it. comparing his name of the game. >> not my job to do that, compare. i said i would be playing defense. have fun with the comparisons. >> yup, they over it. maryland football players here on fox 5 tomorrow. the terps host georgia tech at 12:30 and eleanor roosevelt grad sean petty makes his debut at quarterback. the wizards tipped off the season tuesday night in

cleveland, rallying from the 16- point deficit to take a fourth quarter lead. only to fall to the cavaliers, 94-84. and the team practiced the last three days. >> we're coming off of the play and know we didn't play well in that game. we have a chance to win and we feel like we're coming on to execute things we know we canco well, we'll have a chance to win the game. >> i'm excited. the family's going to be there and actually, i mean -- it's my time now. i'm going to have to represent and show -- as well as my teammates and have a great team this year and hopefully they will support us throughout the year. >> and also tomorrow night, d.c. united will end their five- year post season drought when the black-and-red host the new york red bulls in game one of the home and home series. united enterse the play-offs with a seven-game unbeaten streak. the second-year coach took the team from the stellar to the

second place in the eastern conference in two years and everyone wants more. >> i am happy to be here. i feel like the goal was to -- and after that -- in a position to make nose. >> we have a job ahead of us. i like our team and we have a good group. sometimes that gets you through and past teams that have great visits. >> more bad news if you're a hockey team or player, the nhl cancelled the classic on winter's -- new year's day. that is a wrap on sports. brian. >> thank you. and let's go to shawn yancy for a look at what is coming up at 10. shawn. >> thanks, brian. we're working several stories for you. the man accused of planting pipe bombs at local homes makes his first court appearance in montana. the new details we learned about his arrest. >> plus an escaped murderer caught after three days on the run. how he broke out of prison and

where investigators caught up with him. also, local runners react to the cancellation of the new york city marathon. those stories and much more at 10. brian. >> all right, shawn. and let's go to sue palka now with a last look at the forecast. >> this is the accuweather seven-day forecast, tacking about the temperatures in the low 50s. it will be brighter for the weekend. don't forget, we return to standard time, set your clocks back one hour saturday night. so far so good for election day around here, the temperature is 52 degrees and keeping it dry, brian. >> keep it here. the news edge you decide 2012 is coming up next. g up next.